Gene therapy has had its commercial struggles in the past year. The cost to patients is in the millions and fewer are stepping forward for treatment than companies would like. While development continues in this game-changing field, some have struggled with regulatory authorities during development while others have just stepped away altogether.

Shionogi & Co. Ltd. will acquire global rights to U.S. FDA approved amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapy edaravone through a $2.5 billion acquisition deal with Tanabe Pharma Corp. Under the terms, Tanabe will form a new entity harboring both oral and intravenous (I.V.) infusion formulations of edaravone that are marketed in the U.S. as Radicava ORS and I.V. Radicava.

Reviva Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. may be headed back to the clinic for another phase III study of brilaroxazine in treating schizophrenia. With a successful series of early and mid-stage studies behind the treatment, the U.S. FDA recommended a second study for the serotonin-dopamine and neuroinflammatory signaling modulator after a pre-NDA meeting in order to net more efficacy results and expand the safety dataset.

ADEL Inc. closed a year-end licensing deal worth up to $1.04 billion with Sanofi SA for ADEL-Y01, a specific tau-targeting Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate in a U.S. phase I study.

Formation Bio Inc. acquired ex-China rights to Lynk Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s oral TYK2-inhibitor, LNK-01006, for up to $605 million. The phase I-ready central nervous system (CNS) candidate will be developed at Formation’s newly formed subsidiary, Bleecker Bio.

AC Immune SA plans talks with regulators based on positive interim safety and efficacy results from the phase II Vacsyn trial of its wholly owned anti-alpha-synuclein (a-syn) active immunotherapy ACI-7104.056 in early Parkinson’s disease (PD). The firm said that for the first time, data support targeting a-syn pathology via such a strategy. Disease-related biomarker results that suggest PD slowing include a-syn cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels and neurofilament light (NfL).

Epilepsygtx Ltd. has raised a $33 million series A to fund a phase I/IIa trial of EPY-201, a gene therapy for treating drug-resistant focal epilepsy.

Positive efficacy results led to Praxis Precision Medicines Inc.’s phase II Embold study in developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) being halted early, propelling the company’s shares dramatically upward.

The BioWorld Neurological Diseases Index continued the recovery noted at the end of August, closing November with a gain of 2.64%.

Drug developers big and small are pursuing a solution for the curse of psychosis that occurs along with the already tragic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, an affliction known as ADP.